Best Posts in Thread: The Meeptimes #42

Welcome to The MeepTimes, the twice-monthly update to keep the community in the loop with what’s new, behind the scenes, and in the works. This will be published every other Friday.
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Bugs Squashed

Forums Emails
New accounts now receive the confirmation email again!
/n online
The /n online command now displays all residents of your nation as opposed to only nation staff previously.

Server Updates
Party Chat
Talk with your friends in a private chat! Find out more here!

1.12.2 Compatibility
MeepCraft is officially 1.12.2 compatible! Players can now join the server with minecraft versions 1.12.1 and 1.12.2!

New Lottery
The old lottery system has been replaced by a brand new plugin! You can now buy tickets for the hourly, daily or weekly lotteries! Check out the main thread here.
Town Plot List
Teleport to all the land your town owns with the /townlist command to never lose a plot again!
New Nation Level
An additional nation rank, Dominion, has been added with a 250 plot bonus. Achieve this rank by growing your nation to over 150 residents!
New Town Level
Prove the might of your town by achieving the rank of Mega City with 100 residents!
Town Stats
Ever wondered how your town is doing? Now you can do /tstats to see plenty of info about your town!
Nation Stats
In the same feature, you can now check the stats of a nation using /nstats.
Virtual Shop Updates
The virtual shop has been updated to now include the new items added in the 1.12 update. More info here.
Nation Titles
Nation titles are now displayed in town chat (/tc) and nation chat (/nc)! Get your nation’s king to set your own title today with /n set title [player] [title]!
New Towns Set To Closed
New towns towns are now automatically set to closed when they are created. No longer will you have to worry about players warping to your new town without your permission! Type /t toggle public to allow anyone to warp to your town.
Nation Prefixes Fixed
Instead of a nation being referred to as ‘The MeepCraft Realm,’ the same nation will be called ‘MeepCraft (Realm).’

Skyblock Revamp
Ore generators, a new shop, a PvP arena, island leaderboard, custom enchantments, and spawners have been added to Skyblock!

The Project - Gameplay Updates

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What are the Gameplay Updates?
Over the past two weeks, our development team has been working on several minor updates to the MeepCraft gameplay experience. These updates include the addition of Party Chat to our existing chat system. The Virtual Shop has been updated to include the new items introduced in the 1.12 update, along with some other new features that can be seen here. This series of updates has also included a range of updates to the Towns Gamemode, including the addition of nation titles to town chat, three new commands, /townlist, /tstats and /nstats. For more information of the towns updates see this thread. Finally, a new way to trade items is currently in the works, that allows players to safely trade items and meebles with each other, without fear of theft. The new /trade command will open a gui for players to drop items and meebles into and only when both players have agreed on the trade will the goods be sent. Look out for this new /trade feature and make sure check out all the new completed features on the server.

Who’s been working on these Gameplay Updates?

@jadenPete has been working on updating the Virtual Shop and creating the new Trade plugin alongside @LordInateur.

@Vamp1re_Man has been updating Towny and creating the Party Chat system.

Let’s Talk to our Development Team about these Gameplay Updates!

What is it like working on many different projects like these?
Working on different projects like these is fun because I get to work on a variety of different projects that all benefit the server, but also a great learning experience because I gain knowledge of how the different parts of Meep function and how other developers structure their code. - @jadenPete

I find that working on a variety of projects as I have done over the past few week is a lot more enjoyable as a developer and allows me to keep working on new things in a short space of time. - @Vamp1re_Man

What was your role on this?
For the most part I oversee the final testing and implementation of new plugins and bug-fixes on the server. - @LordInateur

My role in the VShop update was fixing the bugs and implementing the features listed on the Trello card. Although I did a good portion of the testing, Lord was responsible for the final testing and some of the early testing. - @jadenPete

My role throughout the past two weeks has been to both develop and test each of the minor projects that I have been working on, being the new towny additions and party chat. - @Vamp1re_Man

How difficult are they to implement?
It mostly depends on the project. A project that I'm developing from scratch is almost always more difficult than maintaining and adding to an existing project because I have to form a plan for how it will work and there isn't functionality already there. Working on an existing project is easier, however I do not have as much knowledge of how it works compared to a project that I developed myself. - @jadenPete

The main difficulty that I have found in these projects is being able to understand a plugin that was written by someone else enough to be able to make your own changes without affecting any of the other functions run by that plugin. Both Towny and ZawmgChat are vital plugins to the server and I definitely needed to take special care to fully understand how to safely add in the new features. - Vamp1re_Man

In what way do you see these updates benefitting the server?
These updates are crucial to ensuring that our players experience seamless and enjoyable in-game time. For the past few months, our tech team has been working super hard on squashing the bugs that have been around the server for ages--these updates will help us devote more time to developing brand new things for the server that players can have fun with.- @LordInateur

The bug fixes should provide a more stable experience, while the fixed item names should make selling items easier. New items have also been added and sub-ids are now supported. /sales should help players track their history and help players to get an overall idea of what is trending and the overall changes in the economy. - @jadenPete

In the case of the updates that I have been working, I can see them benefiting the server by creating a more expansive and immersive gameplay environment for our players. Both party chat and the town statistics commands are features that I are making life easier for the average meeper. No longer will you need to pull out your calculator to manage your town’s finances or send the same private message to your three friends on the server, town stats and party chat have got you covered. - @Vamp1re_Man

How do you oversee the development team’s work being implemented?
Vamp1re_Man and jadenPete have been wonderful at constantly updating the various plugins, and so most of my work includes encouraging them to make their plugins "unbreakable" before I go in to test them, working with the Admins to prioritize the items to be worked on, and ensuring that there is as little downtime as possible when we implement a new changes on the server. - @LordInateur

When updating something like the virtual shop, what process do you go through to learn how someone else’s work operates?
Usually the name of a class can give me an overall idea of what it's purpose is. If I need to know where a specific command or event operates, I look at the main class which registers all of the events and commands. Comments also prove to be very useful when I'm looking to know how a certain function operates. If all else fails, I can look at the code itself to know how it operates, though comments are more efficient. - @jadenPete

What kind of features were you looking to add within the parties system?
Party chat has been something that I have wanted to work on for a while, and after working on ZawmgChat to add nation titles, I figured that I might as well take a swing at party chat as well. For any of you who keep yourselves updated with trello, you’ll know that a party-wide /tpahere command was something that was on my list, and is now implemented on the server. For future party updates, party sethomes or party warps is definitely something that I’d like to do, and I’ve also received the suggestion to add a co-leader rank, which will also be added when I get around to it. - @Vamp1re_Man

How do you go about implementing changes to Towny?
Towny is undoubtedly one of the most important plugins on MeepCraft and any developer that is directly making changes to it would need to tread carefully. Fortunately for me, I never had to directly edit the towny plugin, rather edit a plugin called MeepTownyExpansion, which manages our custom towny additions like the plotlist command and player name changes. Despite this, I still needed to access towny data, and thus needed to thoroughly test the plugin for any errors, and the new dev server set up by @LordInateur was extremely helpful during this process. Lord has definitely been a big help with accelerating and improving the test phase of development since he joined the team. - @Vamp1re_Man

Anything else you’d like to add?
As always, if anyone discovers any bugs, please take the time to post them in Report a Bug or contact a Tech. If you have any suggestions for VirtualShop or anything Meep-related please post them in Suggestions. I hope everyone enjoys the update! - @jadenPete

Huge shout-out to Fuzzlr for helping me out with bug-fixes on the forums (we got the mailer and forum registration fixed!) and to KlutchDecals and xT3Kx for high-level brainstorming efforts that they are putting into current and future plugin additions and modifications. - @LordInateur

Storytime with the Crew - The Parkour Struggle is Real!

Parkour, one of the most challenging, frustrating, anger awaking, races to do. Some love it, some hate it and some tolerate it. Most however share a mutual goal, competing in the Speed run! People gather from all around, friends come together to train. New friends are made, and hobbies are discovered.

It was Onceuponajano’s dream to compete in the speed run. She had watched people from afar competing in the race and she thought it was time she gave it a shot. As she walked around the arena she thought about her chances, she currently was not the best parkourer, and to actually stand a chance she would have to train, and practise, take on the maps she once thought was impossible.

Once set off on her mission to train, starting with the easier course, knowing she could complete this one as she had completed it before. It was time to tackle Jungle! As soon as once stepped into the portal to be taken to jungle, she thought about how hard the race is going to be.

“Don’t do this to yourself, just practise, and you can do it!” Once muttered to herself, shoving the negative thoughts away.

As once started the first map, doing the jumps she had practised over and over, she smiled triumphantly as she beasted through the map. As she rounded the corner to the first checkpoint she thought to herself that maybe she had a chance, if she practised like she did this map then maybe she had a chance.

Once continued with the map and quickly reached the finish line, once she crossed over it, she realised that her fastest score was beaten. “Yes!” She shouted happily.

Once quickly warped back to the map selector pleased with her small achievement, Now it was time to move up a level and to attempt something a bit more difficult, it was time to attempt Cactus.

Once had completed this map at least one time before so she had some idea of how to do it. As she attempted the first few jumps she winced at the damage from the cactus. As she tried to move on she was knocked off and sighed in disappointment. Taking a deep breath in she started again, and managed to make it to the first checkpoint. Once continued with the map and after a few mishaps finished it.

“Two down, five to go!” Once said to herself as she headed towards her next mission, Flower.

Once had attempted this map in the past a few times and had made it past the first two flowers but could never make it any further, hopefully today was the day that should could complete this map.

After she went through the portal she saw a familiar face, “Heya Alexbear!” Once said happily.

“Oh hey once, you gonna try the speed run this year?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, am just training right now, this one is gonna be a struggle though, so might take me a while,” Once replied smiling.

“Well, I can always help you if you want?” Alex offered.

“You know what? That would be awesome!” Once said excitedly.

“Awsome! Me and Acceleradiance are both doing this map right now so we can all work together,” Alex said gesturing further up the course to where accel was.

Once followed Alex through the course and they soon caught up with Accel who helped guide them through the remainder of the map. She struggled through the last flower, but managed to complete it due to the help her new friends gave her.

“Yay! Do you guys wanna go do the next map?” Accel asked their small group.

“Yeah sure, I’m up for it!” Once replied.

“Same here,” said Alex happily.

The group walked off towards the next map, City, and soon beaten it after the help from each other. Swiftly, they breezed through Countryside, then Balloon.

Coming upon the last course, TimothyJH stood beside her, “You going through the evil gate, as well?”

“What do you mean?” once asked, shaking slightly.

“Chill Room is pure evil. It crushes most all who enter into it,” he responded, barely above a whisper.

Finally catching up, the rest of the group caught up. “I guess we have to go in there now to complete them all,” Alex muttered.

Entering in, the enormous view was stunning. Giant objects were littered to the left and right to form the course.”Well this looks hard,” once thought to herself. The entire group hopped from platform to platform over the gaping abyss beneath them. Despite their earlier successes, something just wasn’t right with this course. Time and time again, they’d make a jump, only to slip off the very last jump before a checkpoint.

“Grr!” Timothy shouted. “Only creepers is doing well!” Looking, the group could see creepers flawlessly making each jump, seeming to simply be running.through the course.

Hours later, Alex and creepers had finished, yet all the other continued to struggle with Chill Room. “That’s it!!!” once screamed. “I’ve had enough of this course!” With that, she left the course, then parkour, as the rest continued to push forward.

Once ran to her home, frustrated and angry at seemingly everything and everyone. “I’ll just have to go back and beat that thing, then I’ll be ready!”

You’ve been a member of Meepcraft for a while, how did you introduce yourself to the community?
I remember first joining meepcraft about 2 years ago and saying “Hello Players Of Meepcraft, Im New” I got flooded with welcomes and tips on how to use meepcraft. A few players donated to me and I got bombarded with invites to towns and people asking me to join their town. If there is one thing that I have never experienced on any other server is the willingness for players to help other players out on meepcraft. People love helping each other on meepcraft and i'm sure they'd love to help you too! If you have a question just ask!
Two years is a decent amount of time, how do you spend your time on Meep nowadays?
I usually spend my time mining with EndermanSlayer16 and Tyrecantus. When I’m done mining I use the loot that I find to repair tools and armor at /pwarp repair. The rest of the loot goes to the shop at /pwarp grind. I also love starting community events on meep and asking trivia questions in global to keep everyone engaged in playing meep!
What are the perks of having a pwarp?
Having your own pwarp is very useful for attracting customers to your event or shop. When you are first starting your shop and you are asking people to /tpa to you it quickly becomes a very annoying extra step when accepting tpa requests and you have to be online for people to come to your shop! With pwarps you can make your own personal pwarp and just advertise the pwarp in global so you don't have to accept each and every person that comes to your shop. They are also up 24/7!
With this new economy do you believe it’s difficult to obtain meebles?
My strategy to earning meebles is think of a good idea that other players aren't doing or make a discount shop that you sell your extra loot and materials for super cheap. This way you are earning meebles and everyone wants what you're selling. I highly recommend opening a free business like a grinder or a free food services and then add a shop onto it so that people can buy things for it. For example if you are giving food, sell a furnace, coal, and raw chicken for cheaper than cooked chicken. Then people can make it themselves and you still earn money when players come back for more raw chicken they get a discount and you still earn money!
Thanks for your time mate, is there anything you’d like to add as we finish?
Good luck to all of the awesome meepcraft players and I hope you are successful in Meepcraft! Thanks for this awesome opportunity to be interviewed. In case you didn't know I just recently changed my name to lucatunes and I used to be FallngGravity. If you have any questions for me send me a message in game or on forums and I hope you have a great day! -Luca (lucatunes)

With every release of the paper we will pick a cover photo and a (free) advertisement submitted by the community. The owner of each piece of content will receive 4,000 meebles and have their name featured in the article, below their content. Fill out the form here to submit content. Happy Meeping!

The next issue of The MeepTimes will be released October 13 2017! See you then!